Craft Forms 2015 Artist Statement Book

DECEMBER 4, 2015 - JANUARY 30, 2016

ARTIST STATEMENT BOOK presented by

Wayne Art Center

CRAFT FORMS 2015 ARTISTS Jill Ault (MI) John Babcock (CA) Lynn Batchelder (NY) Sam Bateman (WA) Chris Bathgate (MD) Barb J. Baur (PA) Nicole A. Baxter (Alberta) Marilyn Belford (NJ) Clifford Blanchard (NJ) Thomas M. Bosse (GA) Sally B. Brogden (TN) Franchell Mack Brown (VA) Katelyn A. Butler (MO) Marc Carmen (NJ) Miriam E. Carpenter (PA) Nina Casson McGarva (France) JoAnn Kelly Catsos (MA) Ronald Chan (Ontario) Brent A. Cole (IN) Martha Collins (WA) Seliena Coyle (Northern Ireland) Katherine Dannenberg (PA) Christopher C. Darway (PA) Maciej Dyszkiewicz (Ontario) Holly Fischer (NC) David W. Fraser (PA) Susan Freda (RI) John K. Garrott (TX) Meaghan M. Gates (MA) Holly Goeckler (TX) Lena C. Grabher (Austria) Chad Gunderson (WA) Rene Henry (CA) Alisa (Al) Holen (IN) Holland T. Houdek (IA) Ja Young Hwang (OH) Nicholas E. Ireys (IL) Elizabeth Johnson (CO) Claire B. Jones (WA) Jimin Jung (PA) Dallae Kang (MA)

Elizabeth F. Keller (SC) Alex R. Kinsley (Ontario) David L. Knopp (MD) Joshua Kosker (PA) Hillary Kuhn (PA) Mariko Kusumoto (MA) Judith Larzelere (RI) Michelle Lewin (Ontario) Betsy Lewis (ME) Zachary Lihatsh (IL) Kate Lindsay (CA) Nancy E. Loorem (WA) Melissa A. Lovingood (NC) Helena Lukasova (Czech Republic) John C. Lutz (PA) Jennifer McCurdy (MA) Dorothy McGuinness (WA) Richard McVetis (United Kingdom) Daniel J. Molnar (PA) Andrea L. Moon (MT) Kathryn Osgood (NC) Soohye Park (Korea) Sarah E. Perkins (MO) Barbara Poole (MA) Emilie P. Pritchard (FL) Raymond Rorke (PA) Peter Saenger (DE) JacQueline R. Sanchez (OR) Biba Schutz (NY) Bounkhong Signavong (NJ) Gerri Spilka (PA) Janet L. Street (PA) Cia Thorne (NM) Peeta Tinay (WA) Pauline M. Verbeek-Cowart (KS) Marcia L. Weiss (PA) Shea Wilkinson (NE) Jiangmei Wu (IN) E. Douglas Wunder (PA) Moyu Zhang (NY)

J UROR ’ S A WARD L IST Juror: Ronald T. Labaco

Marcia Docter Curator of the Museum of Arts & Design, NYC

Best of Show

Holland T. Houdek, Submammary Pectoral Plate

Juror’s Awards

Katelyn A. Butler, Beauty: A Contemporary Perspective Joshua Kosker, One Inch Cubic Tangelo Ring Jiangmei Wu, Eurus Richard McVetis, Units of Time Betsy Lewis, Sensorium Mariko Kusumoto, Untitled

Awards of Merit

Elizabeth F. Keller, Penjing Tea #6 David L. Knopp, Point of View Jill Ault, Jade Peeta Tinay, 4 Inset Handle Basket in Black and Red Gerri Spilka, Interactions #20

JILL AULT ANN ARBOR, MI

Jade Award of Merit $6,800 Cotton sateen Digitally printed, machine pieced, machine quilted 61” x 72”

Playing with pattern — I used a photograph of a jade plant with added drawing and divided multiple copies of it into many squares, no two alike. Pieces of the image walk across and down the surface of the quilt.

JOHN BABCOCK SOQUEL, CA

Hōkūle'a $12,000 Pigmented kozo fiber paper, mylar Cooked, hand beaten, pigmented, poured, laminated, cut on plotter 87” x 144”

Hōkūle'a, the Polynesian name for Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, guided the ancient mariners of the South Pacific. These sailors brought paper mulberry (kozo) trees to the South Pacific islands.

Islanders pounded kozo to make tapa cloth which had great social importance. Also named Hōkūle'a is a Polynesian double-hulled canoe that sails from Hawaii throughout the South Pacific, navigated only by waves, stars and sun, just as in the past.

The kozo paper in this work was beaten by my own hand, pigmented and poured into large sheets commemorating those ancient mariners.

LYNN BATCHELDER NEW PALTZ, NY

Sawing/Drawing Object I $1,200 Oxidized copper Cut, formed, fabricated 2” x 10” x 7”

My studio practice relies strongly on a drawing process where forms and ideas develop intuitively through the initial exploration of a line on paper. I find value and beauty in the waver of the drawn line and the subtleties of the handmade object. I am constantly trying to capture small moments of contrast where control and imperfection collide. Working simultaneously on large scale repetitious ink drawings, I translate the process and line quality directly into metal forms where line after line is hand cut with the jeweler's saw, highlighting the subtle imperfections of the unalterable mark.

SAM BATEMAN EVERETT, WA

Leaf Masquerade $2,000 SOLD Snakewood Bandsawed, carved, filed, sanded, oil finished 9.5” x 1.5” x 1.6”

As a wood artist specializing in making sculptural spoons, I am motivated by the endless possibilities of what a spoon might become - not as an object of practical utility, but one of artistic expression. Some of my spoons serve as vehicles for reimagining entities, real or not, from the realm of nature. Others dish up a touch of humor or whimsy. All involve an exploration of form while still retaining the semblance of a spoon.

Leaf Masquerade is the end result of an attempt to utilize as much of the material as possible from a rather narrow piece of snakewood. The bowl shape, along with the mottled patterns in the wood, suggested a curled up autumn leaf.

CHRIS BATHGATE BALTIMORE, MD

RG355113224 $2,750 each Aluminum, brass, stainless steel CNC machined, anodized, powder coated 7” x 2” x 2”

NP625544312235 $2,500 each Machined aluminum, stainless steel, bronze, copper CNC machined, anodized, powder coated 4.5” x 2.5” x 5.5”

As a self-taught machinist and CNC machine builder, the tools of my craft have become the conceptual foundation for my visual ideas.

My works are not conceived in a top-down fashion. Instead, I begin each work with only a loose concept or visual goal, and then allow the technical constraints of my process and equipment to guide the work to its final form. This "logistics first" approach allows the fabrication process to have a major influence on my creative output, rather than being a means to an end.

I often play on industrial design motifs and experiment with ideas around our relationship to engineered objects. The internal logic of each sculpture suggests intentional design, which in turn implies utility; however, the work is static and ambiguous. As an art object, it refuses to fully transform the medium, making each sculpture feel like an irresolvable paradox, full of implied yet undefined purpose.

Machine work is a discipline that requires constant innovation to realize one's creative goals. It is this innovation that fuels future creative insights. For me, it has become a self-sustaining exploration of a craft that, given its ubiquity in modern life, is enormously underrepresented as an art form.

BARB J. BAUR PHILADELPHIA, PA

Ripples $380 SOLD Sterling silver sheet Hand sawed, hand fabricated 1.5” x 1.5” x 1”

As a jeweler, my work is inspired by my personal visualization of human interaction. My training in traditional bench jewelry is the starting point for my artistic practice. Innately curious, I use an extensive range of techniques from traditional crafts to industrial technology in creating my work.

NICOLE A. BAXTER EDMONTON, ALBERTA

Porthole Pendant #2 $2,100 Sterling silver, whale bone, kaleidoscope stone, plastic, glass, atlantisite Soldered, riveted 10.5” x 6.3” x .4”

As a technician I am drawn to the mastery of the craft and the beauty of its application. As an artist I seek reflection through observation. I walk in life seeing the small bits and pieces of this grand immense planet - the details that make up the whole - a color - a movement - a smell or sound. I capture them and send them back out - made by me for the world to see.

MARILYN BELFORD CALDWELL, NJ

Perseus Saving Andromeda $25,000 Cotton fabric, wool batting, thread Raw edge appliqué, threadpainted, quilted 78” x 66”

When Cassiopeia's hubris leads her to boast that her daughter is more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon chains Andromeda to a rock, sending a sea monster after her, but is saved by Perseus.

I use fabric much as the painter uses his pots of paint. I do not use any paint, inks, or dyes in my work. I love the challenge of finding the appropriate piece of ready-made fabric. I use raw-edge fusible web, then threadpaint to breathe life into the whole. My quilting is used to enhance the movement of the composition and produce a sense of three-dimensionality.

CLIFFORD BLANCHARD MORRISTOWN, NJ

Ferra-Flora $2,000 Repurposed stainless steel spoons, bevel gears, D-clamp, miscellaneous scrap Welded, salvaged, repurposed 20” x 3.5” x 2.8”

My work is made with stainless steel salvaged from the scrap yards in central and northern New Jersey. Cutting, welding, reshaping and joining these found objects is central to the creation of the sculpture. Assembling such artifacts creates a precarious harmony between materials where balance and tension are at work creating either a sense of equilibrium or the suggestion of motion. The work's content, which occupies the middle ground between the tangible and the abstract, touches on themes from the human experience, nature, and mythology. The quiet power of steel invites the viewer to interact, while the subjective form of the sculpture challenges the imagination.

THOMAS M. BOSSE ATHENS, GA

Birds of Paradise $800 Pewter Raised, cast, fabricated 3” x 3” x 3”

One hundred eight cast birds create the outer shell of this fruit-like vessel. Fauna and flora come together to demonstrate their dual need for one another. The fruit supplies nutrients for the bird, and it is the bird who spreads the seed of the fruit. As this vessel can provide nutrients for its user, it encourages the viewer to reconsider what role we play in the ecosystem, in the hopes that we may give back as much as we take.

SALLY B. BROGDEN KNOXVILLE, TN

No Title (14-9) $900 Ceramic Handbuilt 25” x 7” x 7”

My work focuses on simple abstract form. I am fascinated with the associations that we make as we interpret the world around us, and I hope to create objects with broad and ambiguous references, forms that are perplexing due to their many allusions. My works draw on references to human form, to nature, and to massproduced objects. By embracing the plumpness of anatomical form, as well as the symmetrical rigidity of machine-tooled objects, I strive to heighten potential readings.

FRANCHELL MACK BROWN RADFORD, VA

INTROSPECTION $7,500 Ribbon, rope, freshwater pearls, jade, wood, PVC Dyed, crocheted, knotted 65” x 24” x 6”

WHAT YOU FIND INSIDE, LET IT SHINE I am a participant of meticulousness I am a delver in details Pops of color delight me Controlled haphazardness intrigues me My works are meditative Creating frees me

KATELYN A. BUTLER SPRINGFIELD, MO

Beauty: A Contemporary Perspective Juror’s Award $7,500 Silver, gold, onyx, garnet, plastic, steel Granulated, forged, fabricated, pierced, cast 12” x 14” x 10”

Throughout history, practices to enhance and modify the human body have been exploited all over the world, often to our own detriment. We live in an evolving age of self-obsession and vanity where cosmetic surgery is considered an acceptable and casual vehicle for achieving cultural ideals of beauty. Aspiring to be beautiful has become such a paramount concern that we have turned to dangerous and sometimes life-threatening procedures to postpone the natural process of aging or to drastically modify our physical appearance in an attempt to make our bodies more aesthetically pleasing.

My objects are intended to urge the viewer to reflect upon the superficiality of cosmetic surgery. The instruments themselves, fashioned through careful and precise methods using precious metals, are intended to beautify and prevent the eventual expiration of youthfulness. These instruments will ultimately outlive the patient, whose flesh is ephemeral in nature. Through my work, I wish to denounce the significance of these procedures, and urge my viewer to question these popular practices and ideologies.

MARC CARMEN SPRINGFIELD, NJ

Facet Bowl in Grey with Gold Hurricane Murrine $1,075 Glass Blown, etched, cut, polished 3” x 9.3”

Optic Bowl with White and Grey Coral Murrine $1,075 SOLD Glass Blown, carved, polished 2.8” x 9.5”

Marc Carmen's blown glass works are inspired by the shapes of common utilitarian vessels such as bowls, bottles, and pitchers. He takes these forms and elaborates upon them, experimenting with their proportions and colors as well as the optical properties unique to glass. By the end of this process, the object is no longer functional, but rather serves as an object of art.

MIRIAM E. CARPENTER NEW HOPE, PA

Feather 11,890 $6,300 White oak, wenge Hand carved, steam-bent, pyrographed, dyed 1.5” x 2” x 2”

Feathers 11,892 $5,400 1.8” x 2” x 2.5” White oak, wenge Hand carved, steam-bent, pyrographed, dyed

My current passion is fueled by an evolving series of delicately carved wooden feathers. Species with the most porous earlywood, tight growth rings and strong medullary rays provide the type of structure I have found to be most resilient. The dense medullary rays project radially through the rings, offering an ability to shape incredibly thin undulating forms that expose the delicate pores. The tight rings expose a dramatic visual texture and a challenge to create sweeping lines through the varying densities. Shaping the form defines the tools I can use and an order to the process. This order is as flexible and idiosyncratic as the character of the wood in hand.

NINA CASSON MCGARVA AUNAY-EN-BAZOIS, FRANCE

Changing colors $8,500 Glass Kiln cast 10” x 19” x 9”

I take a detail of an element I find in nature and use it as a inspirational base to create my own abstraction.

Contrast in translucency and texture enrich the natural glass qualities.

My inspiration comes from the cycles of nature that I associate with glass because to me the material is at its most alive when it's hot and being transformed. The end result is solid and doesn't move any longer; it is at the fragile time before disintegration and maintains a dynamic form and rich structure.

JOANN KELLY CATSOS ASHLEY FALLS, MA

Snowflake Sewing Basket $2,800 Black ash splint, maple Stained, naturally hand processed, woven 8” x 10” x 10”

Making baskets of black ash splint satisfies some of my basic inner needs. Helping my husband Steve harvest the black ash tree keeps me in touch with nature, while designing and weaving the basket satisfies my artistic need to express myself.

Almost 30 years ago, my baskets were based upon traditional Shaker and native New England utilitarian styles. The clean lines have remained, but my baskets have evolved into smaller, more finely woven, intricately patterned vessels. To obtain the symmetry that I desire, each basket is woven over a wooden mold that is removed once the weaving is completed.

I am fascinated with the quadrafoil twill pattern found in antique Shaker baskets. Currently I am exploring an 8 point pattern and the twill possibilities. The patterns on my current baskets are made vivid by staining the vertical members, or stakes, prior to weaving.

RONALD CHAN TORONTO, ONTARIO

Lustful Treasure $3,500 Sterling silver, tourmaline, moonstone CAD/CAM-Rhino, ZBrush, 3D printed, cast, set, oxidized, flocked, polished 1.5” x 3.2” x 4.4”

Since humans have been using condoms to prevent sexual diseases and pregnancy for a long time, the sterling silver condom container symbolizes the celebration of safe sex. The connection between the idea of lust and condom is identical and clear because condoms play an important role in humans' sexual practice. The shape of my condom container is based on the warrior's shield as a symbolic meaning of protection. The flower and snake imagery on the shield are the symbols of humans' sexuality. The flower on the shield symbolizes the feminine romance, love, sex, and beauty. Furthermore, the snake has been the classic symbol of sexual temptation and the devil from many mythology stories and paintings for a long time. This combination of using female and male genitals allegories creates a strong statement and tension about the lust. The design of this piece is more intense and impactful in comparison with other pieces in the collection since lust is a strong desire of sex, orgasm, and genitals. For instance, I designed the stigma of the flowers similar to the female genital shape, the cabochon cut moonstone on the stigma as a symbol of the clitoris and the cabochon tourmalines as the urethra.

BRENT A. COLE MUNCIE, IN

Inner Space/Outer Space $1,300 Thread, inner tube, glass, various metals Blown, fused, embroidered 10� x 70� x 6�

It has been said that in the arts we tell lies to get at the truth. I use different materials and perceptual perspectives to get at an idea from several vantage points. I am interested in the intersection of personal histories and how their recalling changes over time.

I see my work as elements of personal navigation. How do we relate to the stars, the sea, or each other? Carl Sagan said, "We are all made of stardust." It is no wonder that we have navigated by the stars even before we had the capacity to record our own stories.

MARTHA COLLINS SEQUIM, WA

Helical Mosaic Ceremonial Bowl $1,200 SOLD Ebony, Brazilian rosewood, red oak, mansonia, maple, purpleheart, zircote Dyed, laminated, sliced, lathe turned 1.8” x 1.8” x1.8”

My passion is to create personal, meaningful works of art with the natural color and grains of exotic hardwoods and artist hand-dyed maple veneer. I "weave" wood into fabric-like patterns, reminiscent of beadwork, basketry or needlepoint. A 2-inch ceremonial bowl can have 1000 pieces of wood in it.

SELIENA COYLE DERRY CITY, NORTHERN IRELAND

Broiste Medb Brooch for Queen Maeve $800 Oxidized sterling silver, bog oak, steel Fabricated 4” x 4”

I am interested in making jewelry in a larger scale than is commonly seen, and with which the viewer/wearer is encouraged to interact.

This current body of work is reflective of a uniquely Irish landscape and utilizes a material indigenous to the country, bog oak. Bog-wood is wood from trees that have been buried in peat bogs and preserved from decay by the acidic and anaerobic bog conditions, sometimes for hundreds or even thousands of years. Research of the national collections of Bronze Age artifacts in combination with the physical nature of the material has engendered a body of work which is contemplative without relying on sentimentality or cliché. Ancient jewelry types such as the torc, lunnula, sun discs and ear-spools have influenced both the form and function of the jewelry pieces that, although unashamedly Irish in character, are nonetheless compatible with contemporary practice.

KATHERINE DANNENBERG PHILADELPHIA, PA

Salt and Pepper Spoons $300 SOLD African porcupine quills, sterling silver Sawed, formed, soldered 5” x 1” x .3”

This pair of spoons is hand fabricated in sterling silver with porcupine quills friction fit (attached without the use of adhesives) as the handles.

CHRISTOPHER C. DARWAY FEASTERVILLE, PA

Mechanical Brooch #5 with Box $1,750 Brass, bronze, sterling silver, copper, stainless steel, maple Traditionally fabricated 4.5” x 4.5” x 2”

This series of mechanical brooches are interpretations of line drawings from the book 507 Mechanisms published in 1868. It was a reference book for inventors, engineers and designers from the Civil War period.

MACIEJ DYSZKIEWICZ ETOBICOKE, ONTARIO

Trap $3,900 Glass Blown, stone engraved 10” x 9” x 5.5”

Amazonia $4,500 Glass Blown, stone engraved, diamond wheel engraved 13” x 4.8” x 4.8”

My work reflects on similarities between the world we’re creating and nature’s creations.

Especially when both can coexist in symbiosis.

HOLLY FISCHER RALEIGH, NC

Serpentine $1,200 White earthenware Slab constructed, textured, glazed 17” x 9” x 2.5”

I am intrigued by the dangerous and alluring beauty of carnivorous plants. These savvy botanicals inspire cloak and dagger imagery and become metaphors for female sexuality and pejorative stereotypes: seductive and deadly. Tucked into the creases and folds of flowing white forms, brightly colored textural elements beckon viewers to risk a closer look. I hope this subtle tension between viewer and object will encourage observers to contemplate assumptions regarding beauty and characterizations of femininity.

DAVID W. FRASER YARDLEY, PA

Double Deconstruction $5,000 Waxed linen Ply-split braided 7” x 14” x 14”

My focus is on sculptural forms that can be made with ply-split braiding, an ancient (but little known) textile technique that is used by men in Rajasthan to make straps for camels. Interesting applications of ply-split braiding occur at the intersection of art and mathematics.

SUSAN FREDA RIVERSIDE, RI

Intergalactic $5,000 Glass, gold leaf, silver leaf, wire Cast, woven 38” x 56” x 1”

Susan Freda is a sculptor known for her organic and intricate style. She employs form, line and light as vehicles to create ephemeral works. Her work is recognized for its use of material and for its delicate and exquisite craftsmanship and is loved for its ephemeral sophistication.

Susan received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2009. She has been the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award, a Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Public Art Grant, and a de Young Museum Artist-in-Residence Award for 2009.

Susan has exhibited extensively in the US, Canada, England and Italy. Her shoe and dress forms have been presented by Stuart Weitzman, Neiman Marcus, Ferragamo, Gotham of London and by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery. Her work is included in the collection of the Museo Italo Americano of San Francisco and in numerous private as well as corporate collections. Susan currently lives and works in Providence, RI.

JOHN K. GARROTT MCKINNEY, TX

Spiral Vessel $800 Brass, enamel paint Fabricated 5” x 6” x 1”

My current body of work focuses on pathways through space and transference. I am interested in creating vessels and jewelry that utilize unique positive and negative spaces. I explore the element of contrast in both surface treatment and form. I often use elongated spouts to emphasize pathways and transitions from one place to another. I have recently been utilizing a flayed effect in my designs. The openings feel as if they are being pulled open and stretched. The most satisfying aspect of my work is in the process (making), both design and fabrication.

MEAGHAN M. GATES NEW BEDFORD, MA

Release $1,200 Ceramic Wheel thrown, altered, assembled 22” x 11” x 12”

The way various organisms act and our psychology of dealing with similar changes can be analogous. While my sculptures are not intended to be literal representations, I draw the viewer closer with points of recognizable elements inspired from actual organisms. I also use movement as a reference from nature to create gestures with my sculptures that read as though they are cringing, reaching out to grab, leaning as though pushed, or are attempting to heal. I am conveying what the potential effects of human intervention on nature are and their subsequent outcomes through the actions of my sculptural forms.

HOLLY GOECKLER SAN ANTONIO, TX

Catnip Cup $1,000 Sterling silver, brass machine screw, peridot Etched, printed, hollow constructed, oxidized, connected 8” x 3” x 3”

My work is inspired by plant, insect and animal forms both large and very small. I am interested in structure, in how things grow, and in how we compose our world based on our own biological form. I am especially interested in the development of forms, and the ways in which discrete elements transform from one shape to the next.

Form, connections between forms, and the details of an object’s configuration are my focus while designing and creating pieces.

LENA C. GRABHER VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Access Memory 1988 $490 Magnetic tape, 925 silver Fabricated 1.2” x 3.1” x 3.2”

Access Memory 1998 $420 Magnetic tape, polymer clay, 925 silver Fabricated 6.7” x 1.6” x 1.6”

Magnetic tapes carry a lot of information: pictures, words, sounds.

It is an outdated material. Nowadays we mostly are not able to access the information because we lack the old players.

I use this as a metaphor for our mind. The access to the information through our memory is limited because we have no direct access to it anymore. Still, the information is there. Not visible in its original form, but it might appear in a different form and order.

CHAD GUNDERSON TACOMA, WA

Untitled $6,000 Ceramic, acrylic Solid cast, low fired in oxidation 16” x 20” x 8”

The term "natural" can be elusive and ambiguous. Additives can be used in an attempt to augment and amplify flavor, color, and texture. The sculptures I create are deceptive in a similar way; color schemes and surfaces from commercial items have been injected into organic forms, twisting them into something different entirely.

Influences such as Lego bricks, 8-bit video game sprites, and vintage Tupperware have been mixed up and are unearthed along with my geologic obsessions. Arbitrarily sculpted by wind, sand, and water, the allure of rocks is converse to the clean aesthetics and deliberate choices of manmade items. With playful naiveté, my work is an attempt to highlight and understand the connections between these two seemingly opposed objects.

I see my work as a modern day counterpart to ancient Chinese scholars' rocks. These rocks were carved, distorted, and used as tools for the imagination. My work, though, also merges elements from contemporary culture by using plastic veneers and saturated colors. Ultimately, my creations become part of a collection of fabricated and fetishized objects which represent how the human imagination can mutate geologic and fossilized specimens into engineered designer relics.

RENE HENRY SAN DIEGO, CA

Abandoned Series #2 $834 Copper, brass, natural rubber, sand grout Electroformed, constructed 3.5” x 3.5”

Abandoned Series #3 $835 Copper, brass, natural rubber, sand grout Electroformed, constructed 12” x 11” x 3”

There is a struggle for what is man-made to continue existing in a world ruled by nature. Structures left untouched will fall into disrepair; yielding to the effects of corrosion, erosion, and decay. During this process of reclamation, the artificial and natural coexist in a struggle for dominion, but human creations will all eventually succumb to nature's absolute power. We care and cultivate our creations to stave off the deteriorating effects of nature's hand, which relentlessly works to break it down until reclaimed through the passage of time. This process and its effects are what have influenced this body of work.

ALISA (AL) HOLEN EVANSVILLE, IN

Glacial Comfort Sake Set $425 Porcelain, glaze Thrown, inflated, altered, fired to cone 10 10” x 11” x 11”

Both metaphorically and as a three-dimensional design quandary, the nuances of relationships fascinate me. It is in these relationships that I find inspiration. I am interested in creating dialogues and connections within my ceramic forms. The work focuses on both formal and metaphorical relationships, often staging forms in postures of dependency, emergence, aggression or comfort. Attention is given to the shapes and textures, swells and voids of the interactions. Additionally, it is immensely satisfying to find playful, artistic solutions to functional problems. I keep my work inside the boundary of 'functional', even if the presence of the piece is overwhelmingly sculptural.

HOLLAND T. HOUDEK IOWA CITY, IA

Acetabular Cup with Encrusted Liner (Implants Series III) $11,750 Copper sheet, Swarovski crystals, patina Hand fabricated, raised, pierced, bead blasted, patinated 3.3” x 5” x 5”

Submammary Pectoral Plate (Implants Series III) Best of Show $7,500 Copper sheet, silicone breast implant, Swarovski crystals, patina Hand fabricated, pierced, bead blasted, patinated 5” x 5” x 1.5”

This series focuses on medical implants, the body, and embodied experience. These hand fabricated objects glorify the highly individual and personal nature of prostheses and surgeries, while evoking notions of memento mori and the fragile nature of the human form. Using real medical implants as inspiration, I have re-invented and exaggerated these devices for imagined bodies. The intention is for viewers to consider their own physicality and to visualize the absent anatomies implied by the work.

JA YOUNG HWANG KENT, OH

The shadow of a cocoon $500 Korean paper (hanji), crystal beads Shredded, beaded, hand dyed 30” x 32.5” x 5”

The aim of this project was to create an art-wear dress inspired by cocoons, morning sunshine, and cultural heritage while exploring a non-traditional material to create a wearable garment. The dress emphasizes enlightenment and personal beliefs of slow fashion and human nature. The designer used tree branches and the paper dress as a metaphor to typify such objects metaphorically, hoping the viewer will see it as a protective shelter for inner feeling. The dress portrays the cocoon itself and was hung on tree branches to depict the texture and shape of the cocoon.

NICHOLAS E. IREYS CARBONDALE, IL

Freya $2,200 Steel, wrought iron Contemporary blacksmithing 14� x 12� x 22�

Understanding the language used in a work of art is key to appreciating it. In my work, I use the language of shapes and gestures. I generate expression with form, line, and movement. I feel that this way of making is direct and instinctive. I build character in pieces by referencing biomorphic and natural elements. Creating a piece that has identity and a story is important to me.

Through the language of shapes and gestures, I employ body and facial communication to relate to the viewer.

I believe that unspoken language is more powerful and genuine than any other form of communication. My pieces should be able to relate with the viewer on a unconscious level, tapping into instinct and emotion rather then a specific dialog.

Balance is an important aspect to all art. In my work, I use physical balance to assist the overall visual composition. Many of my pieces balance on points and will move with the wind or at the slightest touch, adding an extra element of movement that emphasizes the grace that can be achieved with steel. A very important aspect in my metal work is my love for blacksmithing. I like to use traditional joinery techniques as part of the form and not just as a solution to combine pieces.

My love for the process of blacksmithing is parallel to my love for the final product. This form of making can be instinctual and spontaneous. I like to design a piece but also allow for spontaneous opportunity that shapes the final work during the construction process. In my studio practice, the journey is just as important as the destination.

ELIZABETH JOHNSON BOULDER, CO

Raspberry Sampler 1 $2,500 Lead crystal, soda-lime glass Pâte de verre, lampworked 3” x 7” x 8”

Glass sculptor Elizabeth Johnson believes that the artist who can fool the viewer's eye has mastered her materials and technique so well that she can use them to do a kind of magic. Her current work celebrates life by focusing on mankind's universal love for the sensual appeal of berries – their brilliant colors, smooth or velvety skins, luscious tastes and heady fragrances. Berries speak to us of abundance and healthy pleasures. Johnson makes her sculptures to capture these ideals in a tangible form.

CLAIRE B. JONES SEATTLE, WA

Whole Surface: Vitality 3 $1,400 Cotton canvas, thread Free-motion embroidered 8.5” x 7” x 5.5”

My current work involves the creation of non-objective sculptural forms in stitch, transforming the distortion that occurs with heavy machine stitching into an object that is balanced and unified. This work is driven by my fascination with topology, an area of mathematics concerned with the properties of surfaces that are deformed through twisting and stretching.

JIMIN JUNG PHILADELPHIA, PA

LUST $880 18k yellow gold plated brass, resin 3D printed, cast, gold plated, hand finished 2.6� x 2.6� x .8�

My design practice is informed by modernism and minimalism and driven by material exploration. I utilize both traditional and contemporary designing and making skills to bring form to my artistic vision.

Instead of making works from found objects, every element of my jewelry has been designed and engineered from blank blueprints. All of my jewelry is comprised of multiple geometric elements and married into abstract modules that repeat in order to create an elaborate form. The design process then pushes the limitations and error range of the technology I am using to achieve a dynamic form composed of simple elements.

DALLAE KANG NORTHBOROUGH, MA

Universe & Me: Ring $900 22k gold, 22k bi-metal, fine silver, sterling silver Balled, formed, soldered 1.5” x 1” x 1”

Beginning: Brooch $1,800 22k gold, fine silver, sterling silver Balled, formed, soldered 1.6” x 1.6” x .6”

I often contemplate my place in the universe and the purpose of existence. Despite the fact that I am a little being like a dot in it, I like to fulfill the purpose of my existence in the eyes of God. My current work reflects this line of my thoughts.

ELIZABETH F. KELLER CONWAY, SC

Penjing Tea #6 ("tandem trunk") with 1 cup Award of Merit $2,000 Stoneware, glaze, metallic oxide, enamel Slab constructed, electric fired to cone 5 15” x 15” x 10”

For a number of years I have focused strongly on building teapot sets within a sculptural tableau, a container within a container. The teapot form alone naturally invites continuous exploration of form and expression.

Particular influences on my work are Chinese Yixing pottery and penjing (Chinese bonsai) cultivation. All forms in my Penjing and loblolly-related series feature highly tactile surfaces fashioned to simulate aged tree bark characteristics while the forms are modeled to resemble the convoluted shapes seen in penjing tree forms.

These works are a means for me to combine my multiple interests in containment-related sculpture, functional pottery, and horticulture. They address my love of trees, highly textured clay surfaces, and the spatial dynamics of assembling multiple parts to fit within a larger, composite whole – all while still being fully functional.

ALEX R. KINSLEY TORONTO, ONTARIO

Sessility (Necklace) $1,870 Sterling silver, 18k yellow gold, Tahitian pearl (cultured), resin Hand fabricated, hydraulic pressed 9.8� x 3.3� x .6�

This work is part of a series that focuses on the idea of repetition and growth: taking simple forms and repeating them to create a new, and more complex, form or composition. The aesthetics are inspired by marine life found in the inter-tidal zone and among coral reefs; animals such as mussels, nudibanch, and barnacles.

I use multiple components with variations in size, material, and placement. Through a process of designing directly at my workbench, I aim to grow the compositions by placing each form where it seems to fit naturally, and intuitively. Color is used sparingly to provide accents and to give contrast so that the metal forms are not lost in the reflections of the material.

DAVID L. KNOPP BALTIMORE, MD

Point of View Award of Merit $4,000 Baltic birch plywood Stack laminated, carved

I have explored the aesthetic qualities of line for many years, first with life drawings, then with sculpture. A single line can express gesture and movement, direction and depth on a flat surface. With my first sculptures using plywood, I was surprised to discover the linear strata inherent in the medium. Carving laminated blocks of plywood, I create flowing, liquid lines that engage the senses as the eye travels over the contours of my objects.

I prefer an intuitive process, viewing collaboration between ideas and materials as central to my creative output. My creations start with a vision and a rudimentary sketch. There are no defined templates or 3D models or software used. My pieces are functional, but I tend to focus on the aesthetic qualities rather than design principles. Every finished piece is one of a kind. The constant changes that occur as I work keep the work alive as it morphs into my interpretation. The process is paramount.

JOSHUA KOSKER SENECA, PA Carcass Finger Joint (brooch) $1,200 4383 minneola, .925 sterling silver, 304 stainless steel, silk thread Laser cut, formed, carcass joined, fabricated, soldered, stitched 3” x 3” x .3”

One Inch Cubic Tangelo Ring Juror’s Award $900 Tangelo peel, plywood, sterling silver Laser cut, formed, carcass joined, fabricated, Soldered 2.3” x 1.5” x 1.5”

My work comes from a playful capacity to re-imagine the physical, tactile memory of material. Fusing emerging technologies with traditional craft practices – laser cut dried and pressed plant matter, biological artifacts, and geometric organics – my current body of work is twofold, seamlessly resting somewhere in between raw and manufactured. By embracing manual labor, daily experiences, and serendipity through the thoughtful inclusion of everyday artifacts, I hope to present a more or less unusual view of the ordinary.

I view objects as narrators of time and place. These experiences are central to my thinking; how objects are shaped as they pass on. In the case of a picnic, a piece of fruit is a thing to behold – ultimately to be eaten – and so to embody its skin would be something else. Through the tradition of body adornment and a sensual hands-on practice, I am reconsidering the fruit rind and underscoring its unseen potential, hiding in the flesh.

I treat minneola peels like animal hides, relabeling the rinds by date and pinning them up to cure. My approach is informed by the process of angle raising where a flat sheet of metal is transformed into a seamless, hollow vessel. By reversing this process with tangelos and thereby flattening the peel, I am creating a new raw material, while consequently subverting my consumption of metal. This work-hardened rind is the fruit of my labor.

HILLARY KUHN PHILADELPHIA, PA

Wings $500 Nylon, plastic CAD-CAM, 3D printed 2” x 5” x 5”

Bow $300 Nylon CAD-CAM, 3D printed, dyed 5” x 4” x 4”

As an artist, I am intrigued and inspired by one's unique ability to create and interpret art. My inspiration is also drawn from unique qualities of the natural world. Delicacy and fragility in nature is a quality I embrace and blend into my body of work. This compilation of inspiration drives me to create jewelry that delicately adorns the body.

During my creative process, I study textures, patterns, and forms of flora and fauna from terrestrial and aquatic environments. I also view symmetry as a visually powerful design strategy, which can be seen in my body of work. Though my inspiration comes from nature, a timeless and traditional source, my building process is relatively modern. With the use of CAD-CAM technology, I am able to seamlessly and precisely synthesize modern technology with concepts and inspiration relating to the natural world. CAD-CAM is beneficial for my design process because it allows me to create complex forms that accurately reference my inspiration. My work is primarily printed in nylon, a light and fragile material, which relates to delicacy that can be found within nature, such as in flowers, leaves, and feathers.

Ultimately, my work is a reflection of how I view nature and how it can be interpreted into contemporary media. I strive to create pieces that compliment and delicately adorn the body while embracing the beautiful unique qualities of the natural world we live in.

MARIKO KUSUMOTO LEXINGTON, MA

Untitled Juror’s Award $1,200 Polyester Heat set 6” x 7” x 4”

I use a heat-setting technique to create this piece. I'm fascinated and amused by the ability of the synthetic fabric to permanently memorize shapes when heated. Many of my pieces come from accidental discoveries.

During the experimental process, there is sometimes a breathtaking moment. I catch those moments and develop ideas from that point.

I love the translucency of fabric. Using layers and adding moving parts creates playful, mysterious and ethereal atmospheres. Although I am a metalsmith, I was immediately drawn into this fabric world, which is the complete opposite of metal. I feel endless, unlimited possibilities in these materials.

JUDITH LARZELERE WESTERLY, RI

Translucent Volunteer $3,500 Cotton, linen, polyester Machine pieced, top stitched, strip quilted 50� x 46�

The past year, 2014, was a critical year in my development. After 33 years of using the tools of color theory and intensely saturated colors, I have embarked on an exploration of translucency and delicate, ephemeral hints of tone.

MICHELLE LEWIN TORONTO, ONTARIO

The Game $4,000 Sand cast glass, photo image transfers, acrylic board Sand cast, cut, polished 24” x 24” x 3”

The Game is a chess set where each of the pieces is represented by an endangered animal.

BETSY LEWIS PORTLAND, ME Sensorium Juror’s Award $9,000 Sterling silver Carved, dapped, formed, forged, soldered 12” x 14” x 1”

Sensorium' s Tableware $3,000 Copper, powder coat Raised, rolled, forged, soldered, carved 12” x 4” x 4”

On Sensorium: I am motivated to gauge the ratios of sensation in the form of intermediary tooling. Objects such as these are only activated when between hand and subject. Specifically, within this personalized index of tools, I juxtapose a narration of objects that have touched my mother during the decline of her health. Influenced by devices that translate the hand's movements to the body, I aim to gauge stimulation for the viewer without physical touch. Making these tools, which are abstracted from scrapers, grabbers, and sounds, presented itself as a coping mechanism. Their imaginary activation of what these tools represent fulfill my craving to save.

On Sensorium’s Tableware: I built this tableware set as a response to my research of medical tooling. While aiming to stay in the framing of humor and seriousness, I took in several design elements from the medical tooling as well as the Bauhaus style. Sensorium is to gauge ratios of sensation, and with the pour spout of the teapot referencing the stethoscope and the top of the lid carved into an earbud, the pourer's actions become akin to the actions of a doctor.

ZACHARY LIHATSH CARBONDALE, IL

Waiting to Speak $1,700 Mild steel, wax Hand forged 10” x 35” x 20”

Hand forged from mild steel. A fully articulated yet harmless "trap". Speaks about our eagerness to judge before we truly listen.

KATE LINDSAY SHERMAN OAKS, CA

"Relic" necklace $5,600 Reclaimed 18k green gold, reclaimed sterling silver, 4.5mm repurposed white diamond Hand fabricated, reticulated, fused, surface textured, Patinated 3” x 1.2” x .3”

I am intrigued by the concept that relics can trigger deep connections to significant persons, places and things.

Such symbols can become touchstones to help us access our memories and aid us in understanding our past. By honoring these often abstract elements we can hold those close to us in a surviving memorial.

NANCY E. LOOREM LANGLEY, WA

The Birth of the Grid $900 Cane, lacquer Random-woven, lacquered 11” x 7.5” x 7.5”

The Birth of the Grid evokes the origins of creativity emanating from the firmament; from disparate relationships order emerges and becomes.

MELISSA A. LOVINGOOD GREENSBORO, NC

Chased Coral Brooch $400 Sterling silver, coral Chased, repoussé, fabricated 2.8” x 3” x .8”

Wormshell $400 Sterling silver, shell, 14k gold Fabricated 4” x 1.3” x 1” A fundamental aspect in my own work is the development of individual expression. I frequently begin the creative process by conducting research into the history and function of an object, which I then integrate with design ideas based on the study of organic forms.

I find that making art is a dynamic process based on continued exploration and development of new ideas.

I consider function to be an important aspect in my personal work. I design jewelry that can be worn comfortably on the human body; so implicit in the design process is the awareness or the interaction between object and body, as well as the history of personal ornament and its relation to ideas of individual identity.

HELENA LUKASOVA BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC

Man-Made Secret $900 ABS+ material, CT scan, digital renderings, fabric 3D modeled, 3D printed, CT scanned, hand sawed 7” x 11” x 11”

The egg has a very strong symbolic meaning. It is the symbol of the beginning of the world, of life, of the universe in many mythologies. Also it symbolizes immaculate conception in the Christian tradition. Within folk tradition the egg has a very strong history going back to pagan beliefs. Here the egg is the symbol of life.

Each spring in Eastern Europe women (including me) make beautifully adorned eggshells for the celebration of Easter.

The inside can be viewed only through the other methods of imagining such as CT scanning, digital rendering of the digital model. That is why I think images are equally important to present alongside the object. What intrigues me the most is the fact that I will not ever be able to access my creation, only through other means of representation. It is the embodiment of a secret.

In my understanding the project is about the inaccessible information which we try to access in different ways.

The piece is treated as a living object through the methods of the investigation through CT scanning which is performed on living humans (well, at least what was once alive). The idea is to treat the object as a living organism. It also points at the problematic border between the real and artificial.

JOHN C. LUTZ DOYLESTOWN, PA

Oval Turned Table $5,600 American black cherry Lathe turned, cove cut, ebonized 29” x 25” x 18”

This table is an exploration of woodworking techniques and forms. This end table is one of a series of tables that use two basic techniques to create a unique form as well as individual component forms. The turned legs and upper rails of the table are made using the offset lathe turning technique. This was accomplished using extreme offset technique for both sides of the form. The fan of the table top was shaped using a cove cut technique.

For the finish, I used a vintage 1930 chemical ebonizing technique that uses the tannins in American black cherry to turn the wood black. Once ebonized I used a series of hand rubbed finishes of linseed oil and tung oil.

JENNIFER MCCURDY VINEYARD HAVEN, MA

Gilded Roly Bowl $4,800 Porcelain, 12k gold, 23k gold leaf Wheel thrown, altered, carve, incised, fired to cone 10, gilded 7” x 10” x 9”

Andre Gide says, "Pay attention only to the form; emotion will come spontaneously to inhabit it. A perfect dwelling always finds an inhabitant."

I try to pay attention. I use porcelain because it conveys fine qualities of light and shadow. I throw the form on the wheel, and then alter the piece by hand to create soft shadow. Next, I carve the piece for the positive/ negative balance. I fire my work to cone 10, where the porcelain becomes non-porous and translucent.

I gild the porcelain to explore the balance between the convex and the concave, and light absorbed and reflected. The gold leaf illumines the interior of the vessel to reveal new curves and patterns.

DOROTHY MCGUINNESS EVERETT, WA

Satellite $1,320 Watercolor paper, acrylic paint, waxed linen thread Diagonal twill woven 12” x 15” x 12”

After 28 years of exploring the woven form, I have mastered the art of diagonal twill, with which I create forms and structures not normally found in the basketry world. My medium for this unique work is watercolor paper, which I've painted and cut into very narrow uniform strips to achieve the precision I seek.

Approaching my work as a puzzle drives me to discover new shapes and weaving innovations. I often think, "How will it work out if I try this, or how can I get this shape or pattern combination? What if I use these colors in this combination in this order? What if…"

I am also very much interested in the math and geometric constraints of the work. Using hundreds of strips of paper at a time, I explore new structural forms: multiple woven units, asymmetrical corners, weaving opposite corners together, multiple-stepped corners in tandem that add structure to the work. This creates a singular look to the pieces, building unique and intriguing forms that are encoded with energy and elegance.

I am intrigued by the potential outcome of any new design. The evolution of my body of work is built on taking risks and avoiding the "known". The risks offer challenges, which often lead to new directions. This is the excitement that keeps me working in a repetitive medium: it is an on-going meditation on improvisation, a continual experiment through which my work can progress and develop.

RICHARD MCVETIS LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

Units of Time Juror’s Award $2,520 Wool, cotton Hand embroidered

I am a fine artist based in London. My artistic practice centers around my training as an embroiderer through the use of traditional hand stitch techniques and mark making. Labored and meticulously worked wools, and multiples of embroidered dots and crosses explore the similarities between pen on paper and thread on fabric.

My work reflects a preoccupation with process and its ritualistic, repetitive nature exploring the subtle differences that emerge with the repetition process. Using a limited vocabulary of mark making and deliberately subdued color creates a binary simplicity. Mapping out space, marking time and form are central themes in my work. My current project 'Units of Time' is an enquiry into the way time and place are felt, experienced and constructed. Ideas are often developed in response to, or created specific to a moment, visualizing and making time a tactile and tangible object. The pieces created explore how objects, materials and places through the action of hands bear witness to time passing.

DANIEL J. MOLNAR NORRISTOWN, PA

Agnes $500 Handmade paper, ink Papermaking 16” x 14” x 12”

As a story is circulated from generation to generation, it enters into folklore. This process corresponds to the use and re-use of materials. Working primarily with handmade paper recycled from everyday use my work is related to the canon of the great American folk mythology. I feel a strong connection between these stories and the process of re-imagining what I gather. Echoing the imagery of the land that gave birth to both the stories and the materials, my goal is to elevate the potential of newspapers, magazines, office documents and junk mail into the sublime territory of the American mythos.

ANDREA L. MOON RED LODGE, MT

Between I $2,000 Stoneware, slip Coil built, reduction fired 21” x 16” x 12”

I create sculptures to confront personal transitions, reminisce vulnerable layers, and challenge structure. I build with multiple clay parts to create volume, form, and balance. By prevailing the raw surface and physicality of the material, I obsessively preserve stability and the importance of structure in my every day life.

My current work is about building structural forms based on my emotional relationships with others. Specifically, I am moving forward in my physical living space and I have been exploring different shelters and dwellings as a means to find a sense of place, a resting point for my thoughts and anxieties. In my search for a particular space and surroundings I find my bliss in the comfortable movement of my future with my significant other, my family, and my new family. As that appreciation and need continues forward, I seek balance within all of the excitement by creating reactive structures that reflect my graciousness toward the present, past, and future.

I seek a specific structure to inhabit, a home to embody that is both physical and psychological, a foundation for growth.

KATHRYN OSGOOD WANCHESE, NC

Oval Blush $800 Copper, enamel, sterling silver, fabric, seed beads, powder coat Dieformed, fabricated, enameled, sewn, powdercoated 4” x 3” x 2”

As a metalsmith, I explore the inherent malleability of metal to be formed into organic shapes and interpret natural forms. My exploration of forms based on flora and fauna is a reflection of my interest in the inherent transience and transformative nature of the cycle of life. I am fascinated by impermanence, creating objects that embody growth, process, change, decay, and transcendence.

SOOHYE PARK GOYANG/ILSANSEOGU, KOREA

Silver Plate $4,200 Secondhand silver rings Flattened, soldered, dieformed 9” x 9” x .5”

Memori Ephemera $3,220 Secondhand rings Fabricated 4.4” x 3.5” x 3.5”

I'm fascinated by the fact that such small objects of jewelry can possess such potent sentimentality and attain so much emotional weight, beyond their aesthetic pleasure. Rings especially have more of the characteristic of their owners, and more symbolic associations within people's relationships than any other form of jewelry.

In my work, I use secondhand rings from estate sales and vintage shops to investigate the lost value of the seemingly disregarded and neglected - not just their physical, aesthetic value, but also their emotional qualities which once made them precious. At the same time, there is a poignancy in the idea that things cannot last forever and must one day be passed on, or forgotten and left to fade into obscurity, much like the relationship between life and death.

I hope that my work of taking once valued rings and recreating something new out of them, like a simple silver plate, could create a dialogue about our behavior as humans of consuming, abandoning and forgetting things.

SARAH E. PERKINS SPRINGFIELD, MO

Meadow Brooch $330 Silver, enamel, blue chalcedony Fabricated, enameled .5” x 2.5” x 2.5”

In a world of laser cutters and 3D printers, I am insistent on the value of the hand. Forms are slightly asymmetrical, piercings have obvious drill holes and the enamel generally has a non-glossy surface. All these things contribute to the warmth and enticement of the pieces.

BARBARA POOLE LOWELL, MA

Invasive Species/ Unintended Consequences installation $5,000 Wool, silk, cotton, polyester, rayon, cardboard, steel, wood, nylon Hand felted, immersion dyed, shibori dyed, hand sewn, wood fabricated 225” x 240” x 225”

This show is about the changes humanity creates in its environment by introducing alien species into new areas.

Throughout humanity's existence, we have attempted to control or influence nature. In The Botany of Desire Michael Pollan describes how despite our attempts to control plants - such as tulips and cannabis - the plants in fact use us to spread their seeds, or propagate themselves in other ways.

The pieces here are made out of handmade felt, created through a process of agitation, lubrication, and interaction with an alkaline substance. The wool is all hand dyed and the pieces are entirely based on intricate drawings. The idea was to approach each piece as a scientist, creating the role of the species, and the species interaction with its environment.

EMILIE P. PRITCHARD PANAMA CITY, FL

Silver octahedrons with color $550 Sterling silver tubes, anodized aluminum tubes, glass seed beads, sterling silver clasp, thread Hand cut, joined, woven 8.5” x 7.5” x 1.3”

I build geometric structures by joining beads of metal, glass and stone with thread in a beadweaving technique. I strive for a clean, simple look in a complex work.

RAYMOND RORKE PHILADELPHIA, PA

Dream Mode $8,000 Clay, glaze Handbuilt, pierced, draped, formed, reduction fired to cone 6 9” x 27” x 17”

As an artist I work with the rich vocabularies of clay, not only to give shape and voice to new ideas, but to add to the language of artifacts. I'm fascinated by how clay can translate just about any object or substance, including itself. Clay's long and unique ability to simultaneously inhabit the real and the representational in our everyday lives - merging the literal and the metaphoric, the natural and the man-made - has, for me, boundless poetic opportunities for informing, and transforming, human thought. It is, ultimately, clay's soft power.

PETER SAENGER NEWARK, DE

Vessel $900 Porcelain Freehand layered slip 11” x 8” x 8”

When I work I am curious, asking myself questions, pondering answers, thinking about what I am doing and how I will make changes. I evaluate the results and repeat the process.

My work with deflocculated slip and plaster molds is no longer focused on production multiples. I am slip layering as a forming technique, laying the clay into an open, unassembled mold a strand at a time, turning the linear into the voluminous.

JACQUELINE R. SANCHEZ PORTLAND, OR

Portland Skies Black Diamond Pendant $1,400 Sterling silver, LEGO, black diamonds, white diamond Hand fabricated, cut, sanded 18� x 6�

I love breaking down the boundaries of what is expected to create something that is fresh but also has lasting appeal. Most of all, I strive for exceptional craftsmanship and durability. I want people to be delighted with these pieces for years.

I have been a jeweler for over 25 years. For the past 15 years LEGO bricks have been a big part of my practice. I sand, cut, drill and sandblast each LEGO piece. Sand blasting gives a matt finish to create simplicity to a shiny beautiful toy brick. LEGO represents a lot for many people so I try to honor that with each piece.

The diamonds serve as the mature soul of the toy. My pieces over time have evolved into this new body of work telling my forever young story with more of a sophisticated perspective while still honoring "play". Portland Skies symbolizes the rain and clouds of the Portland skies followed by the re-emerging beauty of the city.

BIBA SCHUTZ NEW YORK, NY

Pooling Necklace $5,800 Borosilicate glass, sterling silver, HXTAL adhesive Blown, cut, polished, constructed 1.8” x 8”

My jewelry is the evolution of my experiences. While always considering the body, I am manipulating glass and metal to create forms of motion and a place to hide. Their relationship to each other, not unlike ours, draws the viewer inside to fantasize and recall memories. This starts with my story and then that continues ………………

BOUNKHONG SIGNAVONG SECAUCUS, NJ

Diamonds $15,000 Fiber, silk Handwoven 78� x 30.5�

Silk weaving, for daily use and for rituals, has been an integral part of life and culture in Laos for centuries.

During the 1990s, some Lao artists like myself put a lot of effort in reviving the weaving traditions after more than 40 years of upheaval. The piece exhibited here, Diamonds, has been designed by me and was handwoven on a traditional loom, made entirely from naturally dyed silk. It took an experienced weaver six months to complete it. It is composed of diamond-shaped magical figures, representing nagas, lions, monkeys, peacocks and flowers believed to guard the treasures of the earth.

GERRI SPILKA PHILADELPHIA, PA

Interactions #20 Award of Merit $8,000 Cotton, wool Machine pieced, machine quilted Quilted by Marina Baudoin 96� x 72�

Trained in this order, as a biologist, social scientist, architect and urban planner, not surprisingly, in my fabric work I continue to investigate themes grounded in these ways of knowing the world. The two dimensional ambiguities of people, place, biological form, mass, line, pattern shape, space, texture, and color underpin all of my work.

JANET L. STREET PHILADELPHIA, PA

Triplets $1,500 SOLD Low fire clay, mixed media Built, hollowed 13.5” x 19.5” x 11”

For the last decade or so I have concentrated on ceramic sculpture as a way to express my ideas about the links between non-humans and humans. I am looking for ways to stretch reality and create metaphors for the mysterious connections I see everywhere. This has led to unexpected combinations of animals and human beings: animals riding animals, the riders of indeterminate origin, animals and humans interacting in unexpected ways, many of them expressing what we think of as human emotions but all with a recognizable human dimension. This is a reality of emotions and connections that may not always be visible in day to day life, but that exists somewhere in space and time. I build using slabs and coils and more recently, build solid figures and then hollow them out. I use some oxides, glazes and under glazes but concentrate more and more on paint, left over from my life as a painter. I can layer paint and change the feeling of the work, letting it evolve as my imagination changes the story I want to tell. I add other media or objects to help stretch reality still further.

CIA THORNE SANTA FE, NM

Penumbra "Illuminated portion of a shadow" $2,000 Glass, graphite, steel Hot cast, carved 13” x 6” x 12”

Tone & Depth series 2015: The ability to comprehend and not be able to change. The inability to comprehend depth and complexity in the present moment. These make up the instance before you make a change or shift. I began this series with the intent to create an emotional or physical black and white canvas. The combination of graphite and glass shifted to a relationship of tone and depth. The complexity of the relationship let me make a change in my thinking.

It opened up new levels of seeing and let me shift my thinking. This series reflects a change and growth in my life and work.

PEETA TINAY TACOMA, WA

4 Inset Handle Basket in Black and Red Award of Merit $3,150 Round reed, cane Woven, varnished, waxed 10� x 42�

My love of weaving grew from my wicker furniture restoration background which began in 1990. Instantaneously my passion for craft and design was ignited! I love the challenge involved in creating large, well balanced, beautiful shapes; functional and artistic. My projects flow from a variety of twining and plaiting techniques. Reed, cane and whole rattan are treated with cellulose fiber dyes before the weaving process begins.

After the weaving is completed hand sanding and re-toning with dyes bring highlights to the woven surface.

UV archival varnish is applied, then a lustrous, hand-rubbed wax finish brings the piece to completion.

PAULINE M. VERBEEK-COWART BONNER SPRINGS, KANSAS

Felt Lace Diamond $2,400 Fine merino wool Dobby woven, wet finished, hand cut 84” x 42” x .5”

The concept of "lace" in the Felted Lace series is structural and subtractive. The choice of weaving as technique and yarn as material forces me to think in structures. I am interested in the architecture of cloth and the properties of fibers and yarns. The dimensional stability of every fiber, natural or man-made, can be altered. It is this concept of transformation, the scientific aspect of fiber properties, and the suspense of the outcome of a new combination of elements that drives most of my research. Wool has become my fiber of choice, as it is unique in the way it can be transformed. The transformative qualities I am looking for in my material are so specific that I had to develop the yarn that would give me the felting properties I need for these fabrics. My fabrics speak about simple elegance, the result of an evolution of ideas. This minimalist approach demands that I identify and use only what is essential. I have chosen to limit my colors to off white, the natural un-dyed state of the wool.

This is a conceptual decision as well as a visual one. The un-dyed state of the wool is the most direct and sustainable choice and it allows me to place most of the emphasis on the structural aspects, the play between the pattern of openings and the gathering of the yarns into contrasting, opaque solid areas. Positive and negative spaces create a pattern that is in the cloth itself, not merely on the surface. After the weaving and the wet finishing processes I carefully remove thread groups to reveal another system hidden within the base structure.

The visual beauty of orderly arrangements and the laws of symmetry and proportion as found in nature continually inspire the compositions that emerge as I remove elements.

MARCIA L. WEISS COLLEGEVILLE, PA

Pendulum Fusion $5,000 Linen, silk, ramie, fique, hemp, wool Double cloth woven 73” x 60” x .5”

My identity is rooted in Pennsylvania German heritage. In this tradition, there exists a great history of artisanal craftsmanship. I select methods of making that are directly tied to my ancestors, including hand weaving linen and "quilting" as a means of storytelling. The remembrances I share document the intersections of time and place.

These double cloth woven ikats are inspired by Pennsylvania German quilting, artisanal Central Asian ikats and African narrow strip cloths. Traditional techniques are married with contemporary materials and forms, incorporating contrasting imagery face and back.

SHEA WILKINSON OMAHA, NE

Gemini $4,000 Hand-dyed silk, cotton, polyester thread, fusible webbing Free motion quilted, machine Appliqué 50” x 36”

This piece shows the topography of star clusters, giant gas clouds, and distant galaxies parading about the heavens.

JIANGMEI WU BLOOMINGTON, IN Eurus Juror’s Award $2,400 High tech Kozo paper, plastic buttons Digitally designed, digitally cut, hand folded 16” x 31” x 31”

Durian Durian $2,200 High density polyethylene paper Digitally cut, hand folded 24” x 24”

I have been investigating the tectonic relationship between form, material and technique through the art of paper folding. Although paper folding has been around for hundreds of years, the advance of digital techniques in recent years has allowed artists, mathematicians and computer engineers to develop complex paper objects that can be folded from hundreds of creases. Through my exploration with original origami compositions, I discovered that there are unlimited possibilities working with paper by just folding alone. Folded from two dimensional crease patterns, a piece of paper can be shaped into a three-dimensional spatial form that is structurally cohesive; this three-dimensional form can also be compressed to a smaller folded two-dimensional shape.

E. DOUGLAS WUNDER KUTZTOWN, PA

3 Lines and 9 Dots Bracelet $4,000 Titanium sheet, titanium wire, 18k gold bi-metal sheet, silver tubing, silver wire Hand sawed, cold connected with rivets, constructed, soldered, etched 2.5” x 3” x 3”

Scrambled Bracelet $5,000 Titanium sheet, titanium wire, 18k gold bi-metal sheet, silver sheet, silver tubing Constructed, layered, cold connected with rivets, soldered 3.5” x 3.5” x 2”

My jewelry involves metal parts cut from sheet tubing and wire. Each piece is arranged in multiple layers and cold connected with rivets. All work is based on an intended design without the use of found objects. My ambition is to make jewelry that takes on the feel of orchestrated geometry with an organic twist.

MOYU ZHANG ROCHESTER, NY

Dance No. 4 $6,000 American walnut, acrylic Turned, painted, mortis and tenon joined 90” x 19” x 19”

I seek to create objects that reveal their essential quality and simplicity as a means to convey my attitudes toward life. I intend to capture the essence of emotion by looking deeply into the spiritual and the invisible through my pieces.

I intend to apply two very different visual logics: minimal simplicity and a richness of color and form. I hope to create contrast, tension, and a sense of discovery. I want to experiment with materials, colors, textures, patterns and graphics. I see them as tools to create a sense of space to evoke rhythm, depth, and emotion.

All my works aspire to capture an elusive beauty that combines the poetic and mysterious with a feeling of serenity and purity.

MANY THANKS TO: Presenting Sponsors

Sponsors

E.M.A. Opticians, Inc.

Solutions for the Nonprofit Devon Courtyard Marriott

Framers Market Gallery Starbucks — Paoli

Suburban Garden Club Susquehanna International Group, LLP

Benefactors & Patrons Robert J. Campbell Norman & Suzanne Cohn John O. & Janet F. Haas

Brian Daggett & Franz Raubauer Michael E. & Elisabeth H. Kalogris Calvin W. & Josephine M. Schmidt

Calvin & Christa Schmidt John & Gerry Tuten Thomas & Penelope Watkins

Joan Calhoun & Mike Miller Jim & Phyllis Cobb Jeffrey & Sherry Frank

Hamilton Family Foundation Lynn & Tony Hitschler Joseph & Barbara Mahady

Wade & Wendy McDevitt Eleanor A. Pierson Leonard & Sally Randolph

List incomplete at time of printing